There are times when it seems that Paris has as many museums as it does sidewalk cafes, and so the culture-loving traveler finds herself spoiled for choice. Everybody knows about museums like the Louvre, Centre Pompidou and Musée d'Orsay, but if you'd like to try something that's not on page 1 of everybody's guide book, check out the Musée de Cluny, also known by its proper name, the Musée National du Moyen Age--Thermes & Hôtel de Cluny. Located in the Latin Quarter, its buildings and collections span centuries in a mix that could only work in France. The museum is located at 6, place Paul Painlevé, just north of the Sorbonne and between the Boulevard Saint-Michel, Boulevard Saint-Germain and rue du Sommerard in the fifth arrondissement.
Instructions
1. Enter off the Place Paul-Painlevé, cross the courtyard, turn right, buy a ticket and go in by the gift shop. Go left, to the east, and Room II features a retablo of Christ's passion, as well as a sixteenth century tapestry of wine harvesters. The next room includes Coptic fabrics from the fourth through sixth centuries. Room IV includes wallpaper depicting the life of nobles. Backtrack into Room III to see Room V and VI. Room V features alabaster from Nottingham, England. Continue to the next room for stained glass windows of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries and to Room VII for the thirteenth-century Portal of Pierre of Montreuil.
2. Walk into Room VIII and you'll see one of the highlights of the collection, stone heads of the ancient Kings of Judah. These were originally part of the facade of the Cathedral of Notre-Dame but were pulled down by angry crowds during the French Revolution and not found until 1977. Go back into Room VII and on to Room IX, the cold room or frigidarium of an ancient Roman bath that flourished here from about 200 to 300 AD. The tepidarium and caldarium--tepid and steam baths, respectively--are located to the west of the frigidarium.
3. Backtrack through Room VII to Room X, which features a Roman image of Christ, a thirteenth-century image of the Virgin Mary and St. John, ivory work, capitals from the Abbey of Saint-Germain-du-Près and sculpted heads from the Abbey of Saint-Denis. Go straight into Room XI to see Spanish capitals and images of the Apostles from Sainte-Chapelle. Turn right to see some sixteenth-century tapestries and random costume-related items, as well as coffers and small boxes.
4. Ascend the stairs to the next floor (the first floor in France but the second to Americans) and cross Room XIV to the cylindrical Room XIII to see another highlight of the collection, the fifteenth-century "The Lady with the Unicorn" tapestry. Backtrack into Room XIV to see a tapestry of the Prodigal Son, panels depicting the life of the Virgin Mary and retables from Anvers. Turn right into the Scriptorium, then left into Room XVI, where you'll see a collection of Visigoth crowns, a reliquary from Sainte-Chapelle and the Golden Rose of Basel, commissioned by Pope John XXII.
5. Continue on and turn right into Room XVII, where there are more stained glass windows and ivory pieces, as well as Hispano-Moorish ceramics from the fifteenth century. Retrace your steps and go into Room XVIII, which features choir stalls from Saint-Luceine de Beauvais and a collection of Books of Hours dating between the twelfth and fifteenth centuries.
6. Turn left into Room XIX to see the golden altar from Bale and a retable depicting the Day of Pentecost. Room XX is the original chapel of this building, dating back to when it was occupied by Pierre de Chalus, the Abbot of Cluny. Go back through Room XIX and XVIII into Room XXI, where you'll see an image of the Angel of the Annunciation from fourteenth-century Tuscany and a reliquary from Saint-Mabille. Room XXII includes another retable and more stained glass, both from the fifteenth century, while Room XXIII features a collection of weapons.
7. Visit the museum grounds, which include the "Thousand Flower Carpet," the "Garden of Love," a playground and the "Forest of the Unicorn."
Tags: into Room, Room Room, stained glass, Backtrack into, Backtrack into Room, centuries Room, depicting life